GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Flags in the state of North Carolina will be lowered to half-staff on Saturday in honor of a civil rights icon who helped to shape history in Greensboro.

Major General Joseph McNeil, a Wilmington native, died at the age of 83, North Carolina A&T State University confirmed to FOX8 on Thursday.

McNeil was one of four Black freshmen from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina, today known as North Carolina A&T State University, who sat down at the segregated lunch counter at the Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro and asked to be served on Feb. 1, 1960. When staff refused to serve them, they refused to leave.

“Major General Joseph McNeil, one of the Greensboro Four, shaped civil rights history here in North Carolina and helped spark the movement t

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